10 books like Ivan's War

By Catherine Merridale,

Here are 10 books that authors have personally recommended if you like Ivan's War. Shepherd is a community of 8,000+ authors sharing their favorite books with the world.

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With the Old Breed

By E.B. Sledge,

Book cover of With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

Benjamin Sledge Author Of Where Cowards Go to Die

From the list on war that leave you shattered.

By Benjamin Sledge Author

Who am I?

I’m a Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient who fought in both Afghanistan and Iraq. As I explored the ramifications of combat and struggled to reintegrate when I returned home, I often felt veterans’ memoirs teetered on the brink of “war porn” as opposed to the crushing devastation and fear men and women face on the battlefield. Seeking to rectify the misconceptions about the longest-running wars in U.S. history, I began writing about my experiences on medium.com and amassed over 40,000 followers (which turned into a book deal). This list of books below directly influenced my work and—I believe—are the gold standards for true war stories.

Benjamin's book list on war that leave you shattered

Discover why each book is one of Benjamin's favorite books.

Book cover of Dark Age Book cover of The Things They Carried Book cover of With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Book cover of The Yellow Birds Book cover of What It Is Like to Go to War

Why did Benjamin love this book?

A question I’m often asked is if I’m related to Eugene Bondurant Sledge, whose classic work from World War II became the basis for the HBO miniseries, The Pacific. Though I don’t know, when reading Sledge’s work, I found the way he described the horrors of combat in manners that pricked at the edges of my own war experience. (“His intestines were strung out among the branches like garland decorations on a Christmas tree.”) Sledge has been one of the few who explains the moral injury soldiers face on the battlefield long before the term became common in the Iraq and Afghan Wars. His novel impacted me so deeply, I quote him in my book.

With the Old Breed

By E.B. Sledge,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked With the Old Breed as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The inspiration behind the HBO series THE PACIFIC

This was a brutish, primitive hatred, as characteristic of the horror of war in the Pacific as the palm trees and the islands...

Landing on the beach at Peleliu in 1944 as a twenty-year-old new recruit to the US Marines, Eugene Sledge can only try desperately to survive. At Peleliu and Okinawa - two of the fiercest and filthiest Pacific battles of WWII - he witnesses the dehumanising brutality displayed by both sides and the animal hatred that each soldier has for his enemy.

During temporary lapses in the fighting, conditions on…

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Band of Brothers

By Stephen E. Ambrose,

Book cover of Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest

Harold J. Goldberg Author Of D-Day in the Pacific: The Battle of Saipan

From the list on on World War II according to my students.

By Harold J. Goldberg Author

Who am I?

In 1974 I started my full-time teaching career at a small liberal arts college and realized how much I love teaching and discussing historical events with students. With Russian and Soviet history as my areas of specialization, expanding my course offerings to include World War II was a natural addition. My World War II class became extremely popular and led to demands that I take students to Europe to visit many of the places we discussed in class. Every summer for about ten years I led study-abroad trips to England, France, and Germany. Watching student reactions to Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery made every trip worthwhile.

Harold's book list on on World War II according to my students

Discover why each book is one of Harold's favorite books.

Book cover of War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War Book cover of Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Book cover of With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Book cover of The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale Book cover of Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945

Why did Harold love this book?

My students always identify with the story of E Company and its march across northern France and into Germany. As part of the 101st Airborne Division, the members of E Company parachuted into France as part of the D-Day invasion and then participated in a failed attempt to cross quickly into Germany in Operation Market Garden. At the end of 1944, Germany attempted to break through allied lines in the Battle of the Bulge, with E Company engaged in the crucial battle for Bastogne. Finally, inside Germany, E Company helped in the assault on Hitler’s alpine retreat called Eagle’s Nest. Throughout these battle stories, Ambrose focuses on one character in each chapter, allowing students to identify with individual struggles that create an emotional attachment between the reader and members of E Company.

Band of Brothers

By Stephen E. Ambrose,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Band of Brothers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

They fought on Utah Beach, in Arnhem, Bastogne, the Bulge; they spearheaded the Rhine offensive and took possession of Hitler's Eagle's Nest in Berchtesgaden. Easy Company, 506th Airborne Division, U.S. Army, was as good a rifle company as any in the world. From their rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to D-Day and victory, Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company, which kept getting the tough assignments. Easy Company was responsible for everything from parachuting into France early D-Day morning to the capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden. BAND OF BROTHERS is the account of the men of…

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The Unwomanly Face of War

By Svetlana Alexievich, Larissa Volokhonsky (translator), Richard Pevear (translator)

Book cover of The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II

Francine Hirsch Author Of Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg: A New History of the International Military Tribunal After World War II

From the list on The experience of Soviet Soldiers in WW2.

By Francine Hirsch Author

Who am I?

Francine Hirsch is Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she teaches courses on Soviet History, Modern European History, and the History of Human Rights. She spent fifteen years researching and writing about the Soviet Union’s experience in World War II and the role that it played in the Nuremberg Trials. Her recently published Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg was awarded the 2021 Certificate of Merit for a Preeminent Contribution to Creative Scholarship from the American Society of International Law.

Francine's book list on The experience of Soviet Soldiers in WW2

Discover why each book is one of Francine's favorite books.

Book cover of Russia at War, 1941-1945: A History Book cover of The Stuff of Soldiers: A History of the Red Army in World War II Through Objects Book cover of Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945 Book cover of Life and Fate Book cover of The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II

Why did Francine love this book?

Many Americans know relatively little about the war on the Eastern Front and the wartime experience of the Soviet Union. The oral histories presented in this extraordinary book come as a revelation, shedding important new light on the role of women—soldiers, doctors, nurses, pilots, partisans, and others—to the Soviet war effort. Alexievich masterfully weaves these stories together. The reader walks away with a fresh appreciation of the Soviet contribution to the victory, the extent of Soviet suffering under the Nazi occupation, the critical role of women in the war, and the ways that we remember (or choose to forget) the past. This has become my go-to book on the Second World War.

The Unwomanly Face of War

By Svetlana Alexievich, Larissa Volokhonsky (translator), Richard Pevear (translator)

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Unwomanly Face of War as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'A must read' - Margaret Atwood

'It would be hard to find a book that feels more important or original' - Viv Groskop, Observer

Extraordinary stories from Soviet women who fought in the Second World War - from the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

"Why, having stood up for and held their own place in a once absolutely male world, have women not stood up for their history? Their words and feelings? A whole world is hidden from us. Their war remains unknown... I want to write the history of that war. A women's history."

In the late…

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Life and Fate

By Vasily Grossman,

Book cover of Life and Fate

Paul Clark Author Of The Price of Dreams

From the list on life in the Soviet Union.

By Paul Clark Author

Who am I?

At the age of 16, I briefly joined the International Socialists, a small British Trotskyist party. Though I soon became disillusioned, it was a formative experience that left me with a lifelong fascination with communism and the Soviet Union. Over the following decades, I read everything I could about the subject, both fiction and non-fiction. In the years after the fall of communism, the ideas that eventually culminated in the writing of this book began to form in my head.

Paul's book list on life in the Soviet Union

Discover why each book is one of Paul's favorite books.

Book cover of Conquered City Book cover of The Porcupine Book cover of The White Guard Book cover of Life and Fate Book cover of Stalin's Door

Why did Paul love this book?

Grossman consciously attempted to write the War and Peace of the Second World War, and in this panoramic masterpiece, he pulled it off. Like War and Peace, the book focuses both on the travails of a single family and the broader sweep of history, as we witness events from the perspective of persecuted Jewish scientists, soldiers (both Soviet and German), partisans, peasants, and generals.

This is an intensely personal work – Grossman covered the battle of Stalingrad for the Soviet press and knew his subject matter firsthand. Writing it was also an extremely courageous act. The KGB confiscated the manuscript and Grossman never lived to see the book published.

Life and Fate

By Vasily Grossman,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Life and Fate as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Based around the pivotal WWII battle of Stalingrad (1942-3), where the German advance into Russia was eventually halted by the Red Army, and around an extended family, the Shaposhnikovs, and their many friends and acquaintances, Life and Fate recounts the experience of characters caught up in an immense struggle between opposing armies and ideologies. Nazism and Communism are appallingly similar, 'two poles of one magnet', as a German camp commander tells a shocked old Bolshevik prisoner. At the height of the battle Russian soldiers and citizens alike are at last able to speak out as they choose, and without reprisal…

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The Stuff of Soldiers

By Brandon M. Schechter,

Book cover of The Stuff of Soldiers: A History of the Red Army in World War II Through Objects

Francine Hirsch Author Of Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg: A New History of the International Military Tribunal After World War II

From the list on The experience of Soviet Soldiers in WW2.

By Francine Hirsch Author

Who am I?

Francine Hirsch is Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she teaches courses on Soviet History, Modern European History, and the History of Human Rights. She spent fifteen years researching and writing about the Soviet Union’s experience in World War II and the role that it played in the Nuremberg Trials. Her recently published Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg was awarded the 2021 Certificate of Merit for a Preeminent Contribution to Creative Scholarship from the American Society of International Law.

Francine's book list on The experience of Soviet Soldiers in WW2

Discover why each book is one of Francine's favorite books.

Book cover of Russia at War, 1941-1945: A History Book cover of The Stuff of Soldiers: A History of the Red Army in World War II Through Objects Book cover of Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945 Book cover of Life and Fate Book cover of The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II

Why did Francine love this book?

This fascinating history of the Red Army in World War II examines the material objects—the overcoat, the boots, the “thing bag,” the spade, the spoon, the bayonet, and other items—that helped turn civilians into Soviet soldiers. By focusing in on “the quotidian details of provisioning,” Schechter provides a unique view of the Red Army and of soldiers’ everyday lives.

The Stuff of Soldiers

By Brandon M. Schechter,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Stuff of Soldiers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Stuff of Soldiers uses everyday objects to tell the story of the Great Patriotic War as never before. Brandon Schechter attends to a diverse array of things-from spoons to tanks-to show how a wide array of citizens became soldiers, and how the provisioning of material goods separated soldiers from civilians.

Through a fascinating examination of leaflets, proclamations, newspapers, manuals, letters to and from the front, diaries, and interviews, The Stuff of Soldiers reveals how the use of everyday items made it possible to wage war. The dazzling range of documents showcases ethnic diversity, women's particular problems at the front,…

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Russia at War, 1941-1945

By Alexander Werth,

Book cover of Russia at War, 1941-1945: A History

Francine Hirsch Author Of Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg: A New History of the International Military Tribunal After World War II

From the list on The experience of Soviet Soldiers in WW2.

By Francine Hirsch Author

Who am I?

Francine Hirsch is Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she teaches courses on Soviet History, Modern European History, and the History of Human Rights. She spent fifteen years researching and writing about the Soviet Union’s experience in World War II and the role that it played in the Nuremberg Trials. Her recently published Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg was awarded the 2021 Certificate of Merit for a Preeminent Contribution to Creative Scholarship from the American Society of International Law.

Francine's book list on The experience of Soviet Soldiers in WW2

Discover why each book is one of Francine's favorite books.

Book cover of Russia at War, 1941-1945: A History Book cover of The Stuff of Soldiers: A History of the Red Army in World War II Through Objects Book cover of Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945 Book cover of Life and Fate Book cover of The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II

Why did Francine love this book?

This vivid history of the Soviet Union at war by BBC journalist Alexander Werth is worth picking up for the Stalingrad chapters alone. In January 1943, Werth set out by train from Moscow to Stalingrad with a small group of correspondents. His conversations with Russian soldiers, officers, nurses, and railwaymen about the fighting, the Germans, and the Soviet defense of the city are woven into these chapters and make for extremely engaging reading.

Russia at War, 1941-1945

By Alexander Werth,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Russia at War, 1941-1945 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In 1941, Russian-born British journalist Alexander Werth observed the unfolding of the Soviet-German conflict with his own eyes. What followed was the widely acclaimed book, Russia at War, first printed in 1964. At once a history of facts, a collection of interviews, and a document of the human condition, Russia at War is a stunning, modern classic that chronicles the savagery and struggles on Russian soil during the most incredible military conflict in modern history.

As a behind-the-scenes eyewitness to the pivotal, shattering events as they occurred, Werth chronicles with vivid detail the hardships of everyday citizens, massive military operations,…

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War Without Mercy

By John W. Dower,

Book cover of War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War

Harold J. Goldberg Author Of D-Day in the Pacific: The Battle of Saipan

From the list on on World War II according to my students.

By Harold J. Goldberg Author

Who am I?

In 1974 I started my full-time teaching career at a small liberal arts college and realized how much I love teaching and discussing historical events with students. With Russian and Soviet history as my areas of specialization, expanding my course offerings to include World War II was a natural addition. My World War II class became extremely popular and led to demands that I take students to Europe to visit many of the places we discussed in class. Every summer for about ten years I led study-abroad trips to England, France, and Germany. Watching student reactions to Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery made every trip worthwhile.

Harold's book list on on World War II according to my students

Discover why each book is one of Harold's favorite books.

Book cover of War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War Book cover of Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Book cover of With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Book cover of The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale Book cover of Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945

Why did Harold love this book?

Dower’s landmark book exposes propaganda as a weapon of war. He describes American and Japanese propaganda, demonstrating how both countries used pre-existing stereotypes to demonize the other. For the Japanese, Americans were giant brutes like gorillas or monsters. Americans used the stereotype of insects such as ants blindly following the leader in a never-ending swarm of invasion. The portrayal of a Japanese soldier with glasses and buck teeth clenching a blond woman in his grasp was intended to frighten and motivate Americans to fight to the end. While everyone knows and expects propaganda to be part of a war, Dower exposed a racist component to the Pacific War that was not as vicious in terms of Germany and the European war.

War Without Mercy

By John W. Dower,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked War Without Mercy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD • AN AMERICAN BOOK AWARD FINALIST • A monumental history that has been hailed by The New York Times as “one of the most original and important books to be written about the war between Japan and the United States.”

In this monumental history, Professor John Dower reveals a hidden, explosive dimension of the Pacific War—race—while writing what John Toland has called “a landmark book ... a powerful, moving, and evenhanded history that is sorely needed in both America and Japan.”
 
Drawing on American and Japanese songs, slogans, cartoons, propaganda films, secret…

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The Complete Maus

By Art Spiegelman,

Book cover of The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale

Donald L. Willerton Author Of Teddy's War

From the list on what our fathers never told us about WWII.

By Donald L. Willerton Author

Who am I?

My father never talked about his experiences during the war. After he died at 67, we found his handwritten itinerary of three years and ten days in the Army Signal Corps. Plotting it on a map sparked a passion that continued for years, taking me twice to sites in Europe and through hundreds of records and books. I am amazed at all he never told us—the Queen Mary troopship, his radar unit’s landing on Omaha Beach (D+26), the Normandy Breakout, Paris after liberation, fleeing Bastogne, and so on. I grew up on WWII films but never grasped till now what my dad may have seen. 

Donald's book list on what our fathers never told us about WWII

Discover why each book is one of Donald's favorite books.

Book cover of The Dachau Concentration Camp, 1933 to 1945 Book cover of The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale Book cover of When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father's War and What Remains Book cover of Ernie's War: The Best of Ernie Pyle's World War II Dispatches Book cover of D-Day and Beyond: The Things Our Fathers Saw-The Untold Stories of the World War II Generation-Volume V

Why did Donald love this book?

To learn about the Holocaust, I read personal remembrances, eyewitness accounts, and detailed descriptions of ghettos, camps, and transports, but this graphic novel based on Spiegelman’s father captured me like none of the others. Its words tell its terrible story masterfully and its drawings fill in what words can’t say, both as his father lived it and as his son learns about it. Banning it from U.S. schools would be completely wrongheaded. It should be required reading.

The Complete Maus

By Art Spiegelman,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked The Complete Maus as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first and only graphic novel to win the Pulitzer Prize, MAUS is a brutally moving work of art about a Holocaust survivor -- and the son who survives him

'The first masterpiece in comic book history' The New Yorker

Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father's story. Approaching the unspeakable through the diminutive (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), Vladek's harrowing story of survival is woven into the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father.

Against the backdrop…

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Why Stalin's Soldiers Fought

By Roger R. Reese,

Book cover of Why Stalin's Soldiers Fought: The Red Army's Military Effectiveness in World War II

Wendy Z. Goldman Author Of Fortress Dark and Stern: The Soviet Home Front During World War II

From the list on the Soviet Union in World War II.

By Wendy Z. Goldman Author

Who am I?

I am a professor of Russian history at Carnegie Mellon University. I have visited Russia many times and spent years working in Russian archives. I am keenly aware of the impact World War II and the Nazis had on the country: a loss of 26-7 million people, wide-scale suffering, mass murder of civilians, and destruction of cities, towns, and villages. The majority of German divisions were concentrated on the eastern front, and it was here the Red Army broke the back of the Wehrmacht. Yet because of divisions created by the Cold War, Americans are taught little about the central role the Soviet Union played in this victory. As a historian, I am strongly committed to bringing the full story of the war to light.

Wendy's book list on the Soviet Union in World War II

Discover why each book is one of Wendy's favorite books.

Book cover of The Complete Black Book of Russian Jewry Book cover of My Life in Stalinist Russia: An American Woman Looks Back Book cover of To the Tashkent Station: Evacuation and Survival in the Soviet Union at War Book cover of Why Stalin's Soldiers Fought: The Red Army's Military Effectiveness in World War II Book cover of The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad

Why did Wendy love this book?

Why are soldiers willing to fight and die, often despite horrific odds, for a cause?  And why do whole armies fall apart under less difficult conditions? The Red Army, which lost millions of men and suffered massive encirclements by the Wehrmacht provides the perfect case study of these questions. After months of retreat, the Red Army turned the tide at Stalingrad and drove the Nazis back to Berlin. 

Reese’s careful research and balanced conclusions note that morale and motivation fluctuated depending on soldiers’ nationality, social group, and personal circumstances. Many were deeply motivated by Soviet patriotism, which was sometimes, but not always coincident, with socialist ideals and support for Stalin. The army quickly proved that despite catastrophic losses of people and equipment, it could regroup and deliver victory. Its successes were tied in no small measure to the efforts the Soviet state poured into creating strong morale and motivation. Credit,…

Why Stalin's Soldiers Fought

By Roger R. Reese,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Why Stalin's Soldiers Fought as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Inept leadership, inefficient campaigning, and enormous losses would seem to spell military disaster. Yet despite these factors, the Soviet Union won its war against Nazi Germany thanks to what Roger Reese calls its "military effectiveness": its ability to put troops in the field even after previous forces had been decimated. Reese probes the human dimension of the Red Army in World War II through a close analysis of soldiers' experiences and attitudes concerning mobilization, motivation, and morale. In doing so, he illuminates the Soviets' remarkable ability to recruit and retain soldiers, revealing why so many were willing to fight in…

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The Red Army and the Second World War

By Alexander Hill,

Book cover of The Red Army and the Second World War

Jeremy Black Author Of A History of the Second World War in 100 Maps

From the list on WW2 in Europe.

By Jeremy Black Author

Who am I?

Jeremy Black is a prolific lecturer and writer, the author of over 100 books. Many concern aspects of eighteenth-century British, European, and American political, diplomatic and military history but he has also published on the history of the press, cartography, warfare, culture, and on the nature and uses of history itself.

Jeremy's book list on WW2 in Europe

Discover why each book is one of Jeremy's favorite books.

Book cover of The Red Army and the Second World War Book cover of Monty's Men: The British Army and the Liberation of Europe Book cover of First to Fight: The Polish War 1939 Book cover of Snow and Steel: The Battle of the Bulge, 1944-45 Book cover of Sicily '43: The First Assault on Fortress Europe

Why did Jeremy love this book?

The Eastern Front has not always attracted the most readable scholarship, while two of the major works by British writers are by those who cannot read Russian. Hill is a welcome relief. His scholarship is impeccable and his book is readable. An important contribution.

The Red Army and the Second World War

By Alexander Hill,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Red Army and the Second World War as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In a definitive new account of the Soviet Union at war, Alexander Hill charts the development, successes and failures of the Red Army from the industrialisation of the Soviet Union in the late 1920s through to the end of the Great Patriotic War in May 1945. Setting military strategy and operations within a broader context that includes national mobilisation on a staggering scale, the book presents a comprehensive account of the origins and course of the war from the perspective of this key Allied power. Drawing on the latest archival research and a wealth of eyewitness testimony, Hill portrays the…

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5 book lists we think you will like!

The best books for understanding the experience of Soviet soldiers in WW2
The best books on World War II according to my students
The best books on the Soviet Union in World War II
The best books on Stalin and the Second World War
The best novels about life in the Soviet Union

Interested in the Soviet Union, soldiers, and the Red Army?

8,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about the Soviet Union, soldiers, and the Red Army.

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